Iqbal blames PCB chief for crisis in England

Chairman of National Assembly standing committee on sports, Iqbal Muhammad Khan today once again blamed PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt for Pakistan's debacle in England and asked for his removal.

"After this latest crisis in England Pakistan cricket has become a laughing stock internationally and Ejaz Butt and his team in the board is to blame for this," he said.

Iqbal said that the NA committee had viewed the entire developments taking place in England very seriously and felt Butt and Pakistan manager, Yawar Saeed were the main culprits in creating this crisis in Pakistan cricket.

"You can be rest assured that when it is possible we will call Butt and Yawar for a meeting and ask them to explain why they are bent upon damaging Pakistan cricket's credibility," Khan said.

The parliamentarian said the NA committee would be sending a note to President Zardari who is the chief patron of the board to finally take steps to put Pakistan cricket in order.

"We will urge the President to change the board and its Chairman and reorganise things. A new ad-hoc committee must be appointed to run cricket affairs and finalise a proper constitution. There must not be centralisation of power in the board," he said.

The parliamentarian said that board had acted stubbornly by making Shahid Afridi the Test captain when he was not ready to play in Test matches.

"The board Chairman in his personal vendetta against Muhammad Yousuf and Younus Khan has kept on damaging Pakistan cricket. Today where is the code of conduct for Shahid Afridi? how was he allowed to directly announce his retirement without first informing the board and team management? Manager Yawar Saeed has himself admitted Afridi didn't inform them about his decision not to play Tests anymore," Khan said.

He said that the board had double standards for everything. "Some players get away with anything and keep on violating the code of conduct while some like Younus Khan are victimised for being straightforward," he noted.

Khan also questioned the decision to appoint Salman Butt as captain and said it was another move by the board which lacked logic and could backfire badly and damage Pakistan cricket.